Spartacus is the best of the sword & sandals epic of the 60s, but the better Kubrick/Kirk Douglas movie is Paths of Glory. Douglas wasn’t a versatile or particularly nuanced actor but he had a great physical presence, suitable for embodying a certain type of forceful manliness. By the 70s he’d become a bit of a parody of himself, frequently appearing shirtless or naked on screen to prove his virility. I think his best film is Billy Wilder’s biting and very bleak media satire Ace in the Hole, from 1951 and he’s great in it. Unlike many movie stars, he didn’t shy away from unsympathetic roles, a tradition his son Michael carried on. 20.000 Leagues Under the Sea is a sentimental favourite of mine and one of the best Jules Verne adaptations.
When I worked at Spitting Image colleagues of mine made this stop-motion short, as a tribute to Kirk Douglas.
